Padang, W Sumatra (ANTARA News) - The people and provincial government of West Sumatra have donated more than Rp2 billion for Rohingya refugees, according to Fadli, head of a local chapter of the Swift Response Action (ACT).

The funds were collected from inhabitants and regional administrations in West Sumatra," the NGO activist said here, Monday, after receiving Rp750 million donated by the provincial administration of West Sumatra.

Earlier, ACT had distributed two thousand tons of rice donated by West Sumatra to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh border area. The rice was sent by a ship.

Deputy Governor of West Sumatra Nasrul Abit has said more assistance would be provided for Rohingya Muslims.

The West Sumatra government has opened a bank account for Rohingya solidarity, at no: 2101.0210.05697-2 in Bank Nagari.

Meanwhile, more than half a million minority Rohingya Muslims have fled an army atrocities in just a few weeks, escaping Myanmar into Bangladesh.

The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, lambasted the government of Aung San Suu Kyi for the bloodshed. "We cannot be afraid to call the actions of the Burmese authorities what they appear to be: a brutal, sustained campaign to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority," she said. "And it should shame senior Burmese leaders who have sacrificed so much for an open, democratic Burma," the Associated Press reported.

Indonesias the Crisis Center for Rohingya (CC4R) of the Justice Prosperous Party has collected funds amounting to Rp1.2 billion from the pubic during a rally to demonstrate solidarity with the Rohingya on Sept 16, 2017.

"We will hand over the donations to Rohingya refugees," Sukamta, a lawmaker and CC4R director, said in a statement, in Jakarta, recently.

The rally had been organized to apply pressure on the Government of Myanmar and the international community to help stop the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.

The funds, collected mostly from participants of the rally, will be channeled through the Indonesian Humanitarian Alliance for Myanmar.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017